With Great Potential Comes Great Responsibility
by J. Maria
Summary: While on a farm at one of the slayer camps, Dawn stumbles across a mysterious black stallion and a sixteen hundred year old text that brings her face to face with a legend. X-over with King Arthur


Title: With Great Potential Comes Great Responsibility

Author: Jmaria

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Not mine, Joss Whedon and Jerry Bruckheimer own all.

Spoilers: Season 7 and the movie King Arthur

Summary: While on a farm at one of the slayer camps, Dawn stumbles across a mysterious black stallion and a sixteen hundred year old text that brings her face to face with a legend.

A/N: I seem to be on this King Arthur kick. . . hehe? Also, my Latin is pretty much nonexistent, so I got the phrase from Latin Aid by looking up the words individually. . Not sure if this is what you wanted exactly.

For: Vanessa  
Character: Dawn  
Max Rating: R  
The emotion you want the fic to convey: Purpose - in process or fulfilled.

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With Great Potential Comes Great Responsibility

The sky was dotted with clouds, and the blades of the long grass sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. The rain had finally stopped, which meant the junior slayers could train outside. Dawn Summers smiled as she watched the preteen girls giggle like everything was normal. This program had been her baby, and she was so glad that the senior members of the Watchers Council had approved it. Of course, the senior Council members were some of her oldest friends and her sister.

In the two years before she had graduated from the new Watcher's Academy, Dawn had spent her summers here at Second Chances farm in southern Scotland. This camp was meant to forge a bond between those slayers who had chosen to live a 'normal' life and those slayers who didn't have that choice. Each of the original Scooby Gang took turns running it until Dawn was old enough to take on full responsibility for the summer program. Giles, Buffy, Xander and Andrew had worked on it the first summer; Willow, Kennedy, Robin and Faith had run it last summer, and this year it was all on her. Which tended to be very nerve wracking at times. Like right now, when two of her older charges were slipping away from the rest of the 'herd'.

"Alicia, Margo! No!" Dawn yelled as two of the 'trouble-maker' junior slayers raced off into the open fields just outside the work area that the rest of the slayers were gathering in.

"Dawn?" Vi called, the slayer closest to her called. "Want me to get them?"

"No, I'll get them." Dawn sighed, climbing over the fence.

"You sure? I can put the hurt on them." Vi offered, grinning.

"I'm sure." Dawn smiled, as she raced across the field to where the bobbing heads of the girls were.

They had both collapsed on the hillside, giggling hysterically as they tried to catch their breath. The camp could be a real drag and they'd spent the last two days stuck inside. They were so busy laughing that they didn't even notice Dawn sneaking up on them.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Dawn said in the most authoritative voice that she could muster.

"Miss Summers, we - uh -" Margo jumped up. She wasn't a slayer! She wasn't supposed to be as fast as they were! She was just a watcher!

"We- we thought we saw a demon!" Alicia bluffed, her eyes wide with feigned innocence.

"So you thought you'd just run off and slay it without telling anyone?" Dawn asked flatly.

"Well - "

"Girls, you might be slayers, but you've only had a summer of training." She said strictly, remembering her own first training sessions with Buffy. "Besides, there's no demon besides those who are here in the Good Will program. This isn't the first time one of the counselors had to say something to you two about running off half-cocked."

"We - "

"Come on, we'll discuss your new restricted access."

"Restricted access?" The girls moaned.

"Yeah, as in your punishments for breaking the rules." Dawn smirked.

The two girls sighed heavily as they marched back to the rest of the group. Dawn wondered if she'd been that bad at that age. She really tried not to think back on that. She shook her head and started to walk forward. As she did, her foot caught on something. She did a half stumble hop and turned herself so that when she fell, she landed on her butt. As she fell, she gave out this odd little half-yelp. It never failed, not even after all these years of training to be a watcher and not even after she'd been on a real patrol. She yelped every time she fell. And she had a tendency to be a total klutz at times. This time, however, she ended up laughing at herself which was something she hadn't been able to do in the past.

After the small personal giggle fest she had with herself, Dawn pushed herself off the ground and looked up at the breathtaking sight that laid before her. Fields of never-ending grass rolled over hill after hill, rising steadily higher. Dawn smiled to herself. This had been why she wanted to set up the camp here. It was secluded enough to protect the girls, but open to a whole new world for them to explore. Well, as much as four dozen teenage girls could open up in the span of eight weeks of training and networking.

After about a minute or so, Dawn realized she would have to get up and go back to training. Just as she was about to get up, something on the ground caught her attention. From the corner of her eye, Dawn could see a pointed rock sticking up from the ground. Curious, and blatantly ignoring the 'curiosity killed the cat' mantra that was playing over in her head, Dawn reached for the object.

It was rough to the touch, and felt like canvas. Wondering what canvas would be doing out here in the middle of nowhere, Dawn tugged at it. The corner was only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. There, imbedded in the hard packed soil of the hillside was a canvas wrapped package. Brushing the dirt from her hands, she rose to her feet with it in her hands.

Dawn stared at it for a minute, wondering what could be inside of it. She tentatively traced the leather strings that kept the canvas on so tightly, preparing to undo them. Before she could even begin, there was a shrill sound from behind her. Whirling around, Dawn found herself face to face with a huge black horse. The first thought that came to her mind was 'the knights found me' and was closely followed by 'do they still want to destroy the key?'. But there was no rider, no saddle, nor any of the things a horse would normally have on it. It brayed, snorted and pawed the ground in front of her, causing Dawn to jump back in fear. She almost dropped the package and bolted like her mind was telling her to do.

The horse snorted once more, prancing about a bit until it's eyes locked on hers. They were so mesmerizing, and Dawn felt herself being pulled into them. There was something odd about this horse, and she had a sinking feeling it had a lot to do with the package in her arms. She took one tentative step toward the animal.

"Dawn?" Vi's concerned call knocked her out of her reverie.

The horse reared, and Dawn scrambled to get out of its' way. She slammed her eyes shut as she scrambled out of the way. She could hear its hooves stamping at the ground, as human footfalls came closer. Dawn blinked as she felt the red-haired slayer's hands on her shoulder.

"Are you ok, Dawn?" Vi asked.

"What - you didn't see that huge black horse?" Dawn asked, pointing to where the horse had stood only moments before.

"No. There's nothing here, Dawn." Vi looked at her in confusion.

"It was just here, I swear! You really didn't see that horse?"

"Let's get you back to the camp." Vi said calmly steering her away. Her eyes fell on the package in Dawn's hands. "Where did you get that?"

"I tripped over it." Dawn said quietly, looking once more over her shoulder for the mysterious black horse.

Later that night, Dawn sat in quiet contemplation with the package in front of her. The sun had long set, and the beginnings of a storm clouded the night sky blocking out nearly all of the stars from the sky. The wind howled outside, pulling at the shutters of the main building. The fire crackled as she thought about what to do with the package she had found earlier.

Giles had always cautioned her to wait and think over her actions. But she was nearly an adult, she should be able to make a simple decision like this. So she pulled the strings apart gently. The canvas was stiff and hard to pull open. She tried to lift it gently, but if she took that course, it wouldn't open at all.

Inside the canvas wrappings were two items. A locked box and a black stone pendant. The pendant was in the form of a wild cat on a blackened leather cord. Dawn gently ran her fingers over the cold stone. It seemed to hum, which surprised her. On the simple wooden box there was a piece of leather. Burned into the leather was a single sentence in Latin. The leather had broken over the years, and all that remain was 'caducus equesterstris reventum grandis equus bellator.' Her Latin was a little shaky but she spoke it out quietly.

"Fallen horsemen return great war horse?" She muttered, saying it again, but this time in Latin.

A great crack of thunder surrounded the building. She could hear the yells of the slayers. One by one, the doors that led to the common room she was in slammed shut. Lightening went off in great succession.

Then she heard it. The great whinny of the black horse she'd seen earlier that day. Things started clicking in her head. Jumping up, she reached for the nearest weapon a long broadsword that hung over the fireplace. Whatever it was, she was sure that it was going be something big and evil that reared it's head. And that she'd just probably inadvertently brought back into existence.

The Stallion charged through the doors, the wind whipping through it's mane as it tried to reach the box. Dawn stared up in amazement at the creature. It was a horsie. She couldn't kill a horsie. She steeled herself to do whatever it was that she had to. Suddenly there was a rumbling voice booming through the room.

"Legends say that a fallen knight returns as a great horse. He has seen what lies before you, and he will guide you."

"Fallen knights return as great horses." Dawn murmured as the light in the room grew brighter.

The light fixtures all began popping in great succession. Dawn shrieked, covering her head from the falling glass. She tried to look up but the wind blew harder, whipping papers and books into the air. The stallion gave one more triumphant whinny as the wind howled louder. Then all was quiet. There was a strange popping noise signaled the end of the wind and all around the room the items that had been caught in the maelstrom began hitting the ground. Dawn peered up through the tangles of her hair.

There in the middle of the room was a buck naked person. She rose unsteadily to her feet. She cautiously made her way over to the person, her hand trembling on the sword. The horse was gone, but her mind kept replaying the phrase 'fallen knights return as great horses'. What if someone had found a way to reverse that and make the horse return to a great knight? Had she somehow done that?

The figure groaned as he tried to push himself up off the ground. His rose to his knees unsteadily. Dark curly black hair stuck to his face as he shivered in the cold. His narrowed eyes looked up sharply at her.

"Have I exchanged one hell for another?" He murmured. "One battle of my choosing for one I did not choose?"

"Who are you?"

"Lancelot, of the Sarmatian Knights. And you?" He said half-heartedly.

"Fallen knights return as great horses." She said quietly. He looked up at her sharply.

"Who told you that?"

"That box."

There on the table, completely undisturbed were a Roman box and the pendant his sister had once given him. His fingers shook, as his vision blurred. He collapsed under his own weight into oblivion just as Vi and a herd of other slayers bound into the room weapons drawn.

"What happened in here?" Vi demanded, looking at the naked knight.

"A horse returned to a knight." Dawn said in disbelief.


End file.
